Trivia of Tab Hunter

Trivia of Tab Hunter (11 July 1931 - 8 July 2018)

*Arthur Andrew Kelm was his birth name.His mother re-assumed her maiden surname, Gelien, and changed her sons' surnames as well.His name become Arthur Gelien.As a teenager, Arthur Gelien was a figure skater, competing in both singles and pairs.

*When Hunter was teen, he met the person who would set him on the path for acting. He is actor Dick Clayton who did a photo shoot for movie magazine at the riding academy where Hunter worked as a stable boy. Clayton told Hunter to look him up if he ever wanted to get into acting.Clayton introduced Hunter to an agent named Henry Willson who worked for David O Selznick.The name "Tab Hunter" came from agent Henry Willson who wanted to "tab" the actor wannabe with a catchy new name. "Hunter" came from his skills as a horseman who rode hunters and jumpers. Willson was also well known for coming up with Rock Hudson's name.

*In film Saturday Island (1952), he had his first screen kiss with veteran actress Linda Darnell. Although nervous at first, Darnell informed Hunter before the love scene not to worry because she cited herself as being "good luck with newcomers". After the kissing scene was shot, Hunter later said Darnell came up to him, gave him a pinch, and remarked, "That was nice!".

*It took nine intense screen tests for Hunter to secure the role of the heroic Marine Danny in the 1955 film Battle Cry.Hunter managed to beat out A-listers such as Paul Newman and James Dean and booked the coveted role.His breakout performance in Battle Cry, Hunter solidified his status as the hot new heartthrob. Girls all around the world dreamt of kissing the young star in their bedrooms, and in February 1956, he received 62,000 valentine gifts which must have been a record.

*As his studio demands, Hunter fake-dated Debbie Reynolds to make sure he maintained the image romantic leading actor persona.When Debbie Reynolds became engaged to crooner Eddie Fisher, Lori Nelson became his primary studio dating partner.Later he matched up by studio with Natalie Wood during the success of Rebel Without a Cause (1955).Of all the women that Hunter spent time with, his favorite was Wood, whom he loved like a younger sister.

*In 1957 he recorded the single “Young Love” with Dot Records. His song successfully knocked Elvis Presley himself out of the number one spot on the charts. The song remained in top for six weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.It sold more than two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.Hunter had another hit single, "Ninety-Nine Ways", which peaked at No. 11 in the United States and No. 5 in the United Kingdom.

*He seriously considered marrying Etchika Choureau, his co-star in 1958's Lafayette Escadrille, to silence the rumors about his sexuality once and for all. But Hunter knew that would be wildly unfair to her — and to himself as well. Many of his fellow closeted actors suppressed such moral qualms and married, but Hunter wasn't prepared to make such compromises. "I felt that if you were with a man," he says, "you were sinning. [But] if you were with a woman, you'd be lying."